Pros & Cons
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- Well-designed interface
- Integrates with OneDrive
- Raw camera file support
- Impressive AI background and object removal tools
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- No face recognition or keyword tagging
- Lacks blemish and red-eye corrections
- Doesn't reduce chromatic aberration, geometry distortion, or image noise
Microsoft Photos Specs
| Content-Aware Edits |
Microsoft Photos, the free photo editing app that comes with Windows, offers competent image viewing and editing in an intuitive interface. The latest version includes AI features like background blur and object removal, and you even get artistic background generation and super-resolution upscaling if you have a Copilot+ PC. That said, it lacks some organization tools we expect, such as keyword tagging, and doesn't offer advanced corrections. Microsoft Photos is ultimately fine for basic editing, but most people are better off with third-party alternatives. Among our Editors' Choice winners are Google Photos, a free app with face recognition and next-level AI capabilities, and Adobe Lightroom, a superb and modern solution for photo management and correction.
What Are the Alternatives to Microsoft Photos?
The Photos app comes free with Windows 10 and 11. Unlike the default Apple Photos app that's exclusive to Apple devices, however, you can uninstall and reinstall it at will. Google Photos, which is also completely free, works on practically every platform since it's web-based.
Windows still comes with Paint, which is more about one-at-a-time image drawing, converting, and resizing. Paint can now generate images based on your text prompts, too. You also get Microsoft Designer, which brings several AI capabilities to image editing, including selective local editing, stickers, and text overlays. For video editing, you can try Clipchamp. Buttons in the Photos app take you directly to those last two apps. Clipchamp and Designer are free but have paid upgrade options.
Speaking of paid software, professionals should look toward Adobe Lightroom ($11.99 per month, with a discount for an annual payment up front) and DxO PhotoLab ($229). The still-capable Adobe Photoshop Elements ($99.99 for a three-year license) and CyberLink PhotoDirector ($99.99) are also worth considering. For pro-level image manipulation, nothing quite stacks up to Adobe Photoshop, which starts at $22.99 per month with an annual commitment.
An Intuitive Interface
The Photos interface has three separate window styles: the main overview page, the viewer, and the editor. I tested on a PC connected to a 4K Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-20 monitor, for which the app's interface elements scaled appropriately—that's not the case with all photo software.
Any images and videos in your Photos folder and its subfolders (including Screenshots) show up in the Photos app. You can add other folders to view their contents via the icon next to the Gallery button on the left rail (it looks like a folder with a plus sign). Photos from your linked OneDrive account appear here, too, including those from your phone if you use OneDrive's camera backup feature. Hovering the cursor over the right edge of the screen shows a scrolling timeline, which allows you to quickly skim back and forward to find a photo session.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Below the Gallery view are sections for Favorites, OneDrive (with subfolders shown), iCloud (if you've enabled it and installed the iCloud Windows sync app), This PC (for local images), and any external devices (usually an SD card). That last section appears only if you use the Import option, which works with any storage device you plug into the computer.
A prominent search bar is at the top window border, with Import and Settings options to the right. Buttons for starting a slideshow, sorting, filtering (for photos only, videos only, or both), and choosing a layout view are above your photos on the right. I wish the app had more filtering options, such as for panoramas, screenshots, raw files, and so on, as you get in Google Photos.
Viewing Photos
Clicking on a thumbnail in the main gallery view opens a new viewer window. This is also the view you get when you open a photo from File Explorer. You can advance through your collection with the arrow keys from this view, as well as get options to open images in the editor interface, Clipchamp, or Designer. A heart icon lets you favorite an image, while an Information button reveals EXIF data (such as shutter speed, f-stop, and focal length) and a map that shows where you took a photo.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)A couple of new view options are helpful. For instance, you can show a "filmstrip" along the bottom to quickly navigate through your photos. Selecting two or more photos lets you compare them, though there's no before-and-after view or zoom-locking feature. A full-screen button lets you see a photo in all its glory without distractions.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Easy, But Basic Importing
At import, you choose a destination folder for your images. You can create a new subfolder, but it's not possible to apply effects or tags to files during the import process as you can in Lightroom. Microsoft Photos supports raw camera files—a plus for those who take digital photos seriously. It even opens newer formats, such as Canon’s CR3 (which requires the free Raw Image Extension from the Microsoft Store). The raw conversion is adequate but doesn’t yield as many details or as rich color as Adobe Lightroom or DxO PhotoLab by default. You can, of course, tweak those things later. Oddly, I couldn't get images in Adobe's popular DNG format to open in Photos, but I had no trouble with the newer AVIF format.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Microsoft Photos supports the most popular video formats: AVI, MP4, and MOV. However, it excludes open-source formats like MKV, OGG, and Google's Webm.
Limited Organization and Search Features
The app is missing some views I like to see. For example, there's no longer a People view, something you still get in OneDrive's web interface. It also lacks a map view of all your geotagged photos, though, as mentioned, you can see small maps for individual photos in a right-side panel. Photos doesn’t let you rate images with stars or apply keyword tags, but both tasks are possible in File Explorer. Synced images from OneDrive at least get automatic object and scene tags.
One of the more appealing tools, Memories, didn't work on three different computers after I attempted to connect my OneDrive account. I see the Memories just fine in the OneDrive web app, which has decent photo editing tools and lets you create custom albums. It even sends emails with appealing memories it finds, such as a recent trip.
The search function in Photos loses some power in the latest version. It now considers only the photo's file name and location, so you can no longer find an image based on its content; for example, "Show me all my pictures of mountains in Peru last March." You can do that in OneDrive, however, as well as in Apple Photos and Lightroom. Those apps let you search based on such specific attributes as lens or aperture settings.
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Decent Editing Tools
In recent years, Microsoft has made significant, simplifying changes to Photos. For example, it removed the app's extensive video editing capabilities (you can still trim videos) and the people recognition feature. If you prefer the older app, you can still get it from the Microsoft Store; it's available via the newer Photos app's Settings page.
When you click the Edit button, Photos takes you to the Crop & Rotate view, which makes sense since those are the most basic image editing functions. You can choose from popular fixed aspect ratios for your crop, which can be helpful for output to targets with specific requirements. A slider handles straightening, though I prefer round handles at the corners for this task. Photos, unfortunately, lacks an auto-straighten tool. Otherwise, you can flip an image to a mirror view or rotate it 90 degrees in either direction.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)I like that the app lets you adjust not only exposure and contrast but also highlights, shadows, and vignetting. Color editing is also an option but limited to Saturation, Warmth (aka white balance), and Tint. The sole detail editing tool is Sharpness. The controls don't bounce back to their default settings when you double-click them, something I look for in photo software interfaces. A Reset button is at the top left.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)In the Filters section, the top option is the Auto Enhance tool, which you should try first to improve an image. I find that it usually bumps up contrast and saturation and fixes white balance, making for a more attractive (though not necessarily realistic) photo. Skies get a boost with highlight reduction for a better look at the clouds. Among the other 15 filter choices are B&W, cool, retro, and warm looks. You can adjust the strength of the Enhance tool's effects with a slider, something I like to see.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Once you perfect your edits, you can either save a copy or overwrite the original. Unfortunately, you can't save the picture as a different file type or to a different location—Photos saves your new copy as a JPG in the current folder. Although this behavior simplifies things, I would prefer more control over output settings.
Cool AI Edits
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Generative AI tools are all the rage in photo software these days, and Microsoft Photos joins the party. As mentioned, you get more of this ilk if you're running Photos on a Copilot+ PC. But everyone gets Generative Erase for removing distracting objects and the Background Blur and Replace tools. These tools worked well in testing, though they don't preserve fine details like hair as accurately as those in Adobe Lightroom or Capture One. Microsoft Photos does, however, have a brush for adding to and removing from the automatic selection.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)On a Copilot+ PC, the AI Restyle button lets you change the background to look like anime artwork or a Van Gogh painting. It's a fun tool. Above, you can see my bike outing transmogrified into the world of the famous Dutch impressionist.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Going a step further into AI, you can generate completely fanciful images with the Designer app that open inside Photos. Above, I used it to transform a family photo into a futuristic group portrait that looks nothing like the original.
Drawing on Photos
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)The drawing tool works with a mouse, a stylus, or your finger on a touch-screen PC. The selection of tips and colors is decent. The eraser, however, is a bit blunt. It can erase only an entire stroke rather than letting you touch up your drawing on a more granular pixel level.
Video Trimming
The video trimming capability is basic but functional: You set an in point and an out point, and that's pretty much it. You can, surprisingly, import a caption file in SRT format. Finally, there's an option to repeat the video ad infinitum. For more capable multitrack editing and effects, a button takes you to Clipchamp. Here's how the trimmer interlace looks:
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)What’s Missing?
Microsoft doesn't offer the noise reduction, chromatic aberration, or geometry correction tools you get in Adobe Photoshop Elements or Lightroom. It's missing red-eye and blemish removal tools, too, though the Generative Erase tool can double as a blemish remover. You don't get any panorama or multi-shot HDR stitching capabilities, either. Remember, however, that the legacy version of Photos that includes some of these functions is still available.
Sharing and Output
You can share photos and albums via the standard Windows share icon at the top right to apps such as Flipboard, Mail, Pinterest, Twitter, and so on. (Unfortunately, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger no longer support this method). For photos and albums, you can generate a link and have the recipient view them online via OneDrive—even without an account.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)Printing is possible via the standard Windows printing utility. There's no built-in photo printing service. Lightroom and Google Photos offer in-app options for photo and book printing.
A final sharing option is to send an album to Sway. This is an online Office component that lets you build a storytelling website. Here, you can add titles and captions with lots of design choices. Sway also lets you insert content from Bing Images, Flickr, OneDrive, and YouTube.
Verdict: Simple Photo and Video Editing With Some Nifty AI
For merely viewing, adjusting, and sharing photos and videos, the free Microsoft Photos is a viable option. You even get a few whiz-bang AI tools. However, some features we expect are missing, like keywords, noise reduction, people tagging, and red-eye correction. The more capable and also free Google Photos thus remains our Editors' Choice winner for entry-level photo editing apps. If you are serious about photo editing, you should step up to our Editors' Choice winners for professionals: Adobe Lightroom offers powerful photo organization tools, top-notch corrections, and advanced effects, while Adobe Photoshop remains the gold standard for image manipulation.